My motability car was involved in an accident. There was no blame on me and the other party has taken full responsibility. The other car is a write off and I’ve been waiting 3 weeks for mine to be assessed. I have a hire vehicle at the moment. I am so worried that if mine cannot be repaired that I have to join the nightmare of waiting for a replacement. Would the insurance replace my car for the same model, how does it work?
Hi Michelle. I’m sorry to hear about your accident. Motability operate a bit differently to other lease car providers or some company car schemes, so it’s difficult to give a full answer without knowing the full picture with your car. It seems odd that you haven’t heard anything after 3 weeks.
If you car can be repaired then you will be provided with a hire car for the duration that your Motability car is off the road. However, you do not have to accept the standard car that they offer if it doesn’t suit your needs. Our Motability car had to go in for accident damage for a week last year and I said that we needed a decent sized SUV to accommodate my wife’s wheelchair, so we were provided with a Mercedes GLB.
As your car is probably less than 3 years old I would think that it’s unlikely that it would be a write off, but if it is and you need a new car then this is where the Motability scheme is unfortunately quite inflexible. Firstly, I don’t think that it works like private insurance where you might get a like for like replacement if the car is under a year old. You would definitely be able to order a new car but I believe that it would need to be from the current list of what’s available (I don’t know this as a fact though, so best to check with them if it happens). Also, many company car schemes allow people to use cars that have been returned early from other drivers for the remainder of their lease, which is great as you always have a decent choice of cars to choose from if you are waiting for a new car to be built. Motability doesn’t do this. As you are an established customer I don’t believe that you will be left without a car, but with many new cars taking anything between 6 and 18 months at present a hire car would cost them a fortune, so there might be some flexibility now but if there is I haven’t heard about it.
As you are understandably worrying about this I would call Motability (rather than the insurance company) and ask for some clarity on what your options are. Let us know what happens.